Strangers Save Young Girl After Her Father Grabs Her and Jumps In Front of Oncoming Train
Commuters in the Bronx rushed to save a 5-year-old girl Monday morning after her father grabbed her hand and jumped in front of an oncoming train.
Thanks to the quick actions of those good Samaritans, the little girl survived; her father did not.
According to Jairo Torres, one of the people who helped pull the little girl from under the train, 45-year-old Fernando Balbuena-Flores was talking on the phone around 8 a.m. with his young daughter standing next to him.
As the southbound number 4 train approached the platform at Kingsbridge Road station, commuters watched in horror as Flores suddenly grabbed his daughter by the wrist and jumped on the tracks, directly in the path of the oncoming train.
The train tried to stop, but it was too late.
Flores was killed instantly, but the young girl had just enough time to scramble to a safe position.
“By the sake of God, the child ended up under the train, underneath, between the wheels, this is how she was able to survive,” Antonyo Love, another commuter who rushed to the toddler’s aid, told WABC-TV.
Torres said he jumped down to check on the young girl and once he saw that she was still alive, he began calling to her.
“She says ‘What happened to my daddy?'” Torres told WCBS-TV. “I said ‘Don’t look at your daddy. Come to me. Crawl like a puppy.'”
Once they were able to pull her out from under the train, another group of strangers comforted her on the platform until paramedics arrived.
Witnesses caught the breath-stopping moment of the young girl being pulled out from under the train and people are now calling the group of commuters heroes.
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“I didn’t do it because people call me a hero,” Torres said. “I do it because of the baby. Because in my heart, I feel the baby is still alive. And the I’m all right. The baby is still alive.”
The young girl’s mother told WLNY that she was thankful for those who helped save her daughter. She also asked for privacy as her family navigates through the traumatic event.
“This is a tragedy and our thoughts are with the family members as well as with our train operator — this is a traumatic event for everyone involved,” the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said in a statement.
Police are still unsure why Flores decided to jump.
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